Naughty Boy Says Louis Tomlinson Is ‘Messing With a Sleeping Lion’

For those of us who have sacrificed so much of our physical and spiritual well-being just to stay up-to-date on all things One Direction, the bitter custody battle over Zayn Malik that has been waged between Louis Tomlinson and Naughty Boy has been an engrossing one to watch. It ultimately culminated in Zayn's decision to choose Naughty Boy over his former bandmate -- his former brother, if you will --- when he tweeted directly to Louis, "remember when you had a life and stopped making bitchy comments about mine ?" Yes, the public dissolution of their friendship has been a difficult one to witness.

But the drama has yet to end. Naughty Boy remains insistent on riling up fans, pitting them against each other and making his opinions heard via UK tabloids. According to a recent interview he did with the Sun, the producer called out Zayn's former bandmate by name and, in so many words, called him immature. The 30-year-old said (all quotes via Teen.com), "Louis needs to shut his mouth. He is just a child. He’s messing with a sleeping lion and you shouldn’t have woken up a sleeping lion as you are only going to regret it."

We understand the sentiment expressed in his last sentence, because we feel similarly about Zayn's decision to quit One Direction, but perhaps that is not the point right now. Naughty Boy then proceeded to come for the One Direction fandom at large, maybe not the wisest decision to make considering their unyielding power. He said, "It’s not fair for the fandom to go for us because we haven’t done anything. I’m not prepared to be the brunt of everything as everyone needs to wait for the real story to come out and then they will realize.”

Naughty Boy then went on to say he doesn't know Louis, but he is basically a caretaker to poor Zayn at this point, so everyone should just lay off and chill out: “I don’t know Louis, so I can only base my judgement on what he says and he is acting like a 12-year-old. Louis should be supporting Zayn. I’ve been the one looking after Zayn since he left One Direction."

Louis later tweeted in a way that either subtly references Naughty Boy's quotes or is about that one Katy Perry song:

Here's to hoping Louis and Zayn patch things up by the time they're asked to do a reunion tour in 2022, cruise-ship style.